Defining the competencies of leadership

The fundamental aims and values of White Stag

White Stag Aims

These aims describe the outcomes we want to have on program participants, or outcomes we want to have on program participants, that is, what we want them to be left with 20 years after participating in the program. Everything we do must support the four aims.

Leadership Development. We inspire individuals to engage life as an ongoing adventure, to challenge themselves, and to lead others to pursue excellence.

Character Development. We encourage people to do what is right, no matter what, and to serve themselves and others.

Personal Fitness. We encourage individuals to accept physical and mental challenges, to surpass their own expectations, expand their knowledge, skills and abilities, and strive for continuous personal improvement.

Citizenship Training. We help individuals to develop a positive attitude, influence those around them, join in, and shape their community.

Program Values

The program has defined a set of values that govern how the program is implemented. These values form the foundation for achieving our aims. So essential are these values, just as if one were to remove a stone from an arch, the arch would fall, and we could not call the program "White Stag." 

Leadership competencies. In his research for his master's thesis, Bela identified 80 characteristics of leadership8. He condensed these into eleven leadership competencies which he then proposed be taught in a systematic process using six developmental levels tailored to the various needs of youth as they mature. These competencies are:9(13)

• Getting and Giving Information
• Understanding Group Needs and Characteristics
• Knowing and Understanding Group Resources
• Controlling the Group
• Counseling
• Setting the Example
• Problem-Solving
• Evaluation
• Sharing Leadership
• Representing the Group
• Manager of Learning

Outdoor learning. The outdoors environment provides a context for learning that is physically demanding and entirely different from that experienced everyday at home and in school. The outdoors stimulates new ways of thinking and approaching both task- and group-related problems. As participants learn they can exceed what they perceive to be their physical limits, they find their mental capacity also grows. We use the physical environment to tire the individual and open their minds to new ways of thinking. We do nothing indoors that can be done outdoors and encourage physical fitness through outdoor activities. Using the outdoors avoids the negative association of a standard classroom environment.

In addition, the program utilizes Scoutcraft skills to provide opportunities to practice leadership skills. Banathy commented:

...the leadership development process of White Stag takes place on the territory of Scout crafting. For example, a very first planning function that the leaders-in-training are to accomplish is related to the setting up of a camp site for their group.... The learning goal here is to learn how to analyze the task, how to plan and organize for the task, how to go about accomplishing it by using all the potentials of group, how to execute the plan, how to evaluate performance, how to correct, etc.(1)

Evaluation attitude. In his master's thesis, Banathy wrote:

Growth in leadership and improvement of leadership performance are dependent upon the leader's willingness to change, his ability to define the kind of change he needs and the experience of the particular change desired.

In this sequence, the leader's ability to define the kind of change he needs is predicated upon his competency to evaluate. Changes or learning in the desired direction can be brought about only by a continuous self-analysis and evaluation of goals and achievements. Learning to evaluate and analyze becomes, therefor, an objective of great significance.(2)

Spirit and traditions. One of the distinctive characteristics of the program is a body of ceremonies, traditions, songs, code, and spirit-related activities. These include a re-telling of the White Stag Legend based on thewhite stag of Hungarian mthology.

Bela wrote,

The name of this leadership development design is WHITE STAG; it is also referred to as the White Stag method of leadership development.

At the time of the initiation of this leadership developmental process a stylized emblem of a white stag was designed as the program symbol. This symbol was used as the badge of the Fourth World Jamboaree held in Hungary.3

The White Stag Legend is used to inspire in the participants a desire for reflection, continuous self-improvement, and pursuit of higher aims and goals. The spirit and tradition activities are used to communicate specific vision and values that include characteristics of servant leadership, compassion, enthusiasm, kindness, and selflessness.

Since its inception, the White Stag program has evolved several ceremonies that use the symbolism of the White Stag to recognize individuals' progress and levels of achievement. They include Baden-Powell's farewell speech from the Fourth World Jamboree, and a recitation of the White Stag legend. These ceremonies are used to communicate the program's vision, values, and ethics. The program has also developed a number of traditions, for example, woggles, waist ropes, staves, berets, and patrol names.

The participant ceremonies typically include a initiatory neckerchief ceremony, a legend ceremony, a graduation neckerchief ceremony, and a final tri-phase graduation ceremony at the end of summer camp. The youth and adult staff may also participate in additional ceremonies at various times during the year. All of these borrow themes from the thewhite stag of Hungarian mythology.

Hands-on learning. The White Stag program emphasizes use of specific experiential learning methods in the context of ourdoor education. These help participants retain what they learn about the eleven leadership competencies.

Patrol method. Baden-Powell wrote:

The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations, and where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself! The formation of the boys into Patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units each under its own responsible leader is the key to a good Troop. The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty. 4

Hurdle method. Banathy defined the Hurdle Method as:

...an approach used as an application technique in leadership development. The hurdle is a means to teach what was previously called the "leadership set" which is a readiness to be ready for and be able to act in a situation for which one is not ready. Unexpected tasks or problems are put before the leader and his group for which they have to organize themselves quickly and efficiently in order to find a solution or to accomplish the task.5

Direct approach. Banathy asserted that:

In conventional...leadership training programs, leadership learnings have not usually been defined as specific learning objectives, but as a by-product of other learnings or activities. This indirect way of training for leadership is what the White Stag Method challenges and transforms into the direct approach.

The Direct Approach to leadership development is conceived as one having a specific terminal behavior defined as leadership learning objectives...6

Banathy went on to define specific leadership behaviors and learnings, including the leadership competencies.

Manager of Learning. Banathy initially defined Manager of Learning in part as the Project Approach:

First, the leader-in-training is confronted with a leadership situation in which he is to act as a leader. In his attempt to act as a leader, he will internalize the need to have available some knowledges [sic], skills or techniques.

Second,. having internalized the need for learning because of the attempted action, the trainee enters a period of teaching or exposure...designed to teach skills, techniques and knowledges [sic] needed to cope with the situation...

Finally, having received instruction and having had proper practice, the leader-in-training engages again in an actual leadership performance, during which he will have a chance to compare his performance exhibited before nd after the instruction.7

Infinity principal. According to Banathy, leadership development must be ongoing:

Leadership behavior cannot be developed during a few weeks, not even during severalmonths. Essential leadership knowledge can be learned in some weeks; it will take months to learn leadership skills; it requires years to shape leadership behavior."10

The White Stag badge denotes an ever ongoing, a becoming process. In the case of the White Stag leadership development program it means the long-term process of leadership development and the never-ending process of becoming a person, with a special emphasis on using difficult situations as opportunities for growth.11

...leadership development will no longer be perceived as a single training course or as a one-shot event, but s a continuous sequence of closely chained and highly structured learning and experience-building opportunities, as an infinite challenge to change, as the nevelr-ending process of becoming a leader.12

The infinity principle of growth in leadership is what the White Stag symbolizes in this leadership development process.13

Uniforming. A uniform displaying the White Stag logo is a visible reminder of the program's founding vision articulated by Baden-Powell at the conclusion of the 1933 World Jamboree. The uniform reminds the individual wearing it of their commitment to the program's values. It instills self-esteem in the person and pride in the program. It eliminates class and socio-economic distinctions. Wearing a uniform improves member's behavior and lessens the impact a person's personal wardrobe.

References

Twenty Thousand Youth and Fifty Years

A vision in the mind of one man fifty years ago has led thousands of youth and adults to pursue a dream: that the skills of leadership can be defined and taught. So it might be a good time to reflect and ask, does the program work?

Evaluating Real Results

Since 1958, with programs currently in two locations, White Stag has put on 63 summer camps for an estimated 20,000 youth. Today, the children of participants from the 1960s and 1970s are taking part in the program.

As a non-profit, not held to the gun of showing a return for shareholders or adding to the bottom line, we are often satisfied to evaluate the success of our efforts in anecdotal terms. We see the enthusiastic response of the participants to the program, we witness their cheers and songs, we watch faces light up in recognition of new-found knowledge, and we even see youth apply their learning in new situations during camp. But does the program work?

Does the Program Work?

Our summer camp programs cost more than the typical summer camp. We advise all participants, "This isn't a fun-time camp." We give participants challenges and precious few direct answers. They go to bed well after dark, usually get up at dawn, and rarely get a break. They get intensive learning sessions two or three times a day. And every year, units repeatedly send youth to the programs' summer camps every year. We must be doing something right.

Yet the real measure of our success is whether the participants actually retain anything taught and are able to take it home and apply it. How do we know that we know?  

How Do We Know That We Know?

The best measure of our success is writing effective, measurable objectives. Only in this way can we define our success.

Writing meaningful, clear, concise goals and objectives is one of the most important activities we assume as managers-of-learning. If we cannot clearly state the outcomes desired, we must ask ourselves if we really understand the subject well enough for us to teach it to others.

Suppose you want to assess whether the participants have learned how to plan, so you give them a challenge to build a bridge. Your objective: "The candidates will use the five step planning process to build a foot bridge." They use all the steps of planning, and at the end of the day, you find that every lashing is tied correctly, but the bridge doesn't reach the other side of the river. Did they learn how to plan? By your objective, they were successful.

Writing Effective, Measurable Objectives

Meaningfully stated objectives:

• Succeed in communicating to an unbiased third party your instructional intent.
• Define in concrete, measurable language the specific outcomes for the learning activity.
• Describe the behavior desired in measurable, specific criterion so an independant third party can judge whether the behavior is actually performed.
• Orient learners to new language and systems of knowledge inherent in the objectives.

Use SMART Criteria

More objectively, you can apply the SMART criteria, shown below. Ask yourself, is each objective:

Specifically, an objective identifies four things:

• Who is acting (the actor)
• What is being done (the action)
• How often it is performed (quantity)
• How well it is completed (quality)

Who is Acting

You can't evaluate a group very easily. A good objective names the actor who is being evaluated.

What is Being Done

The objective needs to define the task or behavior. To behave is defined as, "To act, react, function, or perform in a particular way" Behavior is defined as, "The actions or reactions of persons or things under specific circumstances." You'll notice that very specific controls are required: a "particular way;" "specific circumstances."

Behavior means taking action: you can see what the learner is doing. It is a learner's direct, observable, overt action, not something you infer or deduce from what they said or did. This calls for specific, measurable criterion.

How Often it is Performed

As you write an objective, you must describe the standard or test that can be used to evaluate whether the objective is actually partially or completely achieved. If your learning outcomes are complex, you may need to write more objectives that allow participants to achieve partial success. Shooting for the moon is great, but hitting the side of the barn is progress.

An objective refers to the behavior desired of a learner at the time influence over him ends. The quantity described must be explicit, measurable and verifiable (by other than whoever conceived it). It is a quantitative representation of the number of repetitions, steps, amount of time, resources required or limited.

Example Objective

You have thirty minutes, two 6' spars, and two 12' lengths of rope. Use the five-step Manager of Learning competency to teach the other members of your patrol to tie a square lashing.

How Well it is Completed

The objective needs to describe the quality of the behavior desired. This can be quantified in both very specific physical, cognitive language and in emotional, affective terms as well.

Describing Physical or Cognitive Behaviors

Cognitive objectives describe the task in specific behavioral terms. It uses words that describe observable action:

to write, identify, recite, differentiate, construct, list, diagram, draw, practice, compare, contrast, and so forth;

Cognitive objectives do not use nebulous, vague, and generic language like:

to know, enjoy, believe, grasp the significance of, be certain of, realize, work, desire, like, be familiar with, remember, apply, understand, have faith in, to really understand, to appreciate, to fully appreciate, and so forth.

For a categorized list of verbs useful in a writing explicit objectives and a list of words and phrases to avoid, see Appendix B - "Key Words in Instructional Objectives".

Example Objective

So you would add to the previous example:

You have thirty minutes, three 6' spars, and six 12' lengths of rope. Use the five-step Manager of Learning competency to teach the other members of your patrol to tie a diagonal lashing. The lashings must be able to carry the weight of three patrol members standing on any cross-bar.

We want to write objectives that can be successfully met.

Example Objective

Sometimes the specific outcomes are not clear and need amplification. So we might further add:

You have thirty minutes, three 6' spars, and two 12' lengths of rope. Use the five-step Manager of Learning competency to teach the other members of your patrol to tie a square lashing. The lashings must be able to carry the weight of three patrol members standing on any cross-bar. Patrol members must be able to describe each of the five steps of Manager of Learning used during your session.

Describing Emotional or Affective Behaviors

One of the characteristics that differentiates White Stag from other leadership programs is its emotional impact on people. We want them to have a "True White Stag Experience". We want to fill them with the spirit of cooperation and friendship that current members know and enjoy. We want them to exhibit qualities of leadership like compassion, empathy, and servant leadership. We aim to influence individuals' attitudes and values, because they reflect an individual's deeper emotions, motivations and reasoning.

Affective change can be evaluated by measuring the change in the rate of the behavior targeted. Our challenge is to qualify and quantify the affective behaviors desired. The attitudes and values we want to measure can be effectively described by qualifying the specific, verbal behaviors and physical actions sought.

Example Goal

The candidates will develop an appreciation of the White Stag spirit and traditions, and feel enthusiastic about their experience when they go home.

Example Objectives

The candidate will:

• Participate in a candidate neckerchief, legend, and phase neckerchief ceremony.
• Paraphrase from memory at least three parts of the White Stag Legend and describe how the principles evident in the Legend are present in the program today.
• Write down two ways he can apply one of the principles of the Legend.
• Have an opportunity to express in writing and verbally his feelings about his week in camp.

On a practical level, program participants will only have an opportunity to set goals and write objectives for themselves in relationship to their personal growth. This is typically documented using Leadership Growth Agreements (LGA). More complete information about LGAs and an example LGA form in Resources for Leadership, Chapter 6 - "Evaluation Instruments".

Real Results: What Participants Say

Former candidate, youth and adult staff member Tim Madden wrote, "White Stag taught me several skills that I have added to my success. It has added to my communication skills, confidence, self reliance and taught me what leadership really means. Most people in my generation don't know the difference between management and leadership. Having a background in leadership, I can both manage very well and lead as needed. This has helped me prove my value by providing leadership in work groups while someone else who didn't know what it meant to be a leader (but had the title) learned how. Learning how to be a follower also helps as there are times when that is what is needed. And being able to discern between the two is another skill that has been extremely helpful to me."

Excerpted from Resources for Leadership, available for download.

Of the Best Rulers

Of the best rulers,
The people only know that they exist;
The next best they love and praise
The next they fear;
And the next they revile.
When they do not command the people's faith,
Some will lose faith in them,
And then they resort to oaths!
But of the best when their task is accomplished,
their work done,
The people all remark, "We have done it ourselves."

Leadership Can Be Learned

"Leadership can be defined as a set of competencies which can be learned. Some eighty aspects of knowledge, skills, and attitudes have been taken into account in our research which have been clustered into competencies. To sum it up. an understanding of the concepts described here has helped us to bring into focus that the acquisition of leadership competencies should occur by plan and design, rather than by accident. Although leaders may emerge — as they do today — as by-products of group processes, this is neither an economical nor an effective way of developing leadership."

Leadership is a "process with a purpose. It is a process of the learner moving from a state wherein he cannot yet perform as the described purpose of the training to a state where he can demonstrate such performance. This move is what training is about. Training is the making of specific arrangements in the environment of the learner which provide him with experiences by which he can confront and master the learning task, by which he can be transformed to the state where he can perform as desired." 

"Leadership development cannot be perceived as a single training course or as a one-shot event, but must be a continuous sequence of closely chained and systematically organized learning and experience-building opportunities." Bela Banathy

The Teachable Leader

A mature leader is teachable. Not only do they seek knowledge and inspiration from others, but they turn inward and upward to be lifted up by God. 

"Being a teachable leader is one who serves without question, and values others more highly than themselves."  Niki Pellegrin

When King Nebuchadnezzar was disciplined by God, and returned to his palace, he returned a changed man. Where before he was self-centered and prideful, he gave up his claim to sovereignty or wisdom. He gave credit for his greatness to God. He put God first, rather than himself.

Nebuchadnezzar developed a teachable spirit:

• He expressed appreciation for God's grace and mercy.
• He developed a passion and hunger for personal growth.
• He developed a perspective of life from a higher viewpoint.
• He was not satisfied with the things as the are.
• He acted with humility.

"For most people, it's not what they are that holds them back, it's what they think they are not." John Maxwell

The Humble Leader

To become a leader, you must first submit.

Identify your shortcomings and faults.

Give up any notion that you are in charge.

Acknowledge your debt to those who have taught you.

Confess your sins and seek forgiveness.

Give credit where credit is due.

Find what your people need and serve them.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight Eisenhower

The Founding Principle

Of everything we teach, the competency Manager of Learning is fundamental. Without it, little else has real meaning. A grasp of its basic concepts leads to an understanding of the entire White Stag program's operating thesis.

Manager of Learning Concepts

An effective Manager of Learning first writes down specific, measurable objectives that define what he will teach. He tells the participants what these objectives are so they know what he is expected to learn during the session.

The Manager of Learning then creates a need to learn in the participants with a pre-planned situation, what we call a guided discovery. It is designed to make a demand on the learner so that he can internalize the need for new principles, concepts, skills and techniques and/or improvement of those existing. The learner and the manager of learning will understand what the learner's current knowledge is relative to the manager of learner's stated objectives.

Once a need to learn has been established, the Manager of Learning proceeds, teaching from the known to the unknown. He employs a variety of preferably hands-on teach/learn methods that actively engage the participant in practicing the attitudes, skills, and knowledge being introduced. 

Having effectively transmitted the information and raised the participants' level of knowledge, the Manager of Learning gives them an opportunity to practice their new attitudes, skills and knowledge in the form of an application. This hands-on practice session gives the learners a chance to put their newly acquired knowledge to work. Research confirms that individuals who practice -- vs. those who just listen, read, or recite -- remember considerably more. 

Lastly, the Manager of Learning asks the participants to evaluate their learning. He revisits the originally stated objectives and helps the participants to compare what the information they started with to the information they gained. Furthermore, he asks them to evaluate the session itself -- its strengths and weakness and areas for improvement.

Operating Principles

White Stag describes group development as having four maturity levels:

Manager of Learning begins with an assessment of what the learner’s know in the form of a Guided Discovery. The staff then proceeds from that point forward, utilizing the expertise of more knowledgeable participants to facilitate the learning of others. A variety of teaching methods are employed, including games, assigned projects, buzz groups, exhibits, simulations, games, role plays, and more. Among those is one method that closely resembles the Leading EDGE technique. We call it the Introduction, Explanation, Demonstration, Application, and Summary (IEDAS). These are steps utilized within the Teach/Learn phase of a leadership training session.

"The Manager of Learning process is not lock-step but at the learner's own pace of discovery. It is open ended, not confined to one 'right way,' and cyclical — new learning is based on old learning plateaus. It is a design for producing in-depth learning. The emphasis is on learning, not on what the instructor teaches.

Learning situations are designed that hopefully are directly relevant to the content of the training. For example, in the session about communication, the learners are first put in a situation where they must use their communication skills to relay essential information, such as the destination for that day’s hike, or the location of their next meal. If the session is about teaching, the learners are given an opportunity to practice teaching.

Manager of Learning "... is much more than merely the key instructional method we use, but explains the philosophy of perception/exposure/application as our dominant philosophy." Read more about Manager of Learning. 

Participants are not blank slates

Among the skills the National Boy Scouts of America used to include in its Junior Leader Training program was one called Effective Teaching. In the updated National Youth Leadership Training program, this has been re-christened Teaching EDGE™ (Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable). 

At no time before getting started are the trainers given an opportunity to assess whether the participants actually know anything. The trainers assume the learners know nothing and teach from scratch. Now when was it ever true that every participant in a training experience start off with the same level of skill?

Even were that true, how does the trainer know whether the participants actually learn anything? Trainers teach participants to evaluate using the "start, stop, continue" method, but they never apply it to their own objectives, as in, "What should we stop doing because it isn't helping?"

Originally conceived by Bela Banathy as "Manager of Learning," this competency has been watered down until it is no longer a recognizable part of anything taught during the NYLT program. In this change, the BSA National Training staff reveals their complete lack of understanding of the competency.

Learning should establish respect

In a nutshell, Manager of Learning describes a system for exposing learners to the need to know and involving them in their own learning. Because the competency doesn't assume that the participant is a blank slate, it establishes mutual respect between the trainer and trainee. 

It is not only one of the competencies taught in the program, it is a method for leadership development which we embrace as essential to participatory, experiential, leadership development. In re-christening the competency as "Effective Teaching," the default attention once again shifts to the instructor. We believe the main attention belongs on the learner: did they actually learn anything new?

In Manager of Learning, the focus is on the learner

The reason the competency was named "Manager of Learning" is because we have shifted our attention from instruction to learning. This does not mean that we minimize the importance of instruction or the role of the instructor.

The significance of instruction is not questioned here at all. The point that is made here is that the learning task is the nucleus around which to design instruction. The role and function of instruction should be viewed in its proper relationship to learning. It should be planned for and provided for accordingly. Instruction is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Its function is to facilitate learning. 1

The effectiveness of the learning experience is not measured by the effort made by the instructor but by the amount of learning achieved by the learner.

The emphasis is on learning

A "manager of learning" is not simply a teacher. Teaching connotes activities too typically requiring a lecture hall and a large number of desks. The phrase manager of learning is carefully chosen. The emphasis is on learning, not on what the instructor teaches. Your job, as a manager of learning, is to help the participants to become more effective leaders.

Managers of learning are different from "teachers" or "instructors." They know that people learn as individuals, not as a class or group. They know each individual is important; therefore, each individual leader must learn or all will receive an inferior program. Whoever accepts the responsibility for managing learning must use unusual techniques to get unusual results.

The trainer is more than a teacher

A "manager of learning" is not simply a teacher. Teaching connotes activities too typically requiring a lecture hall and a large number of desks. The phrase manager of learning is carefully chosen. The emphasis is on learning, not on what the instructor teaches. Your job, as a manager of learning, is to help the participants to become more effective leaders.

Managers of learning are different from "teachers" or "instructors." They know that people learn as individuals, not as a class or group. They know each individual is important; therefore, each individual leader must learn or all will receive an inferior program. Whoever accepts the responsibility for managing learning must use unusual techniques to get unusual results.

Manager of Learning builds in respect for both the trainer and the participant. It assumes that trainers can discern the different capabilities of participants, and gives them the opportunity to alter the objectives as needed. The participants only get the information they need in that adds to what they already know.

State-of-the-art Leadership

I recently received an email from an individual who, after receiving a copy of our book Resources for Leadership, expressed his appreciation that the skills of leadership are timeless.

I at one time worked professionally in the arena of Training and Organizational Development. Competing against one another for clients and contracts, the consultants and companies I grew to know had to differentiate their product. Each put his or her own spin and imprint on the concepts of leadership development. As fellow members of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), my perception was that they never quite trusted one another, with whom they competed for the same client dollar.

I've been exposed to many leadership concepts and models over the years, but have yet to see anything new under the sun that could not fit somewhere into the eleven competency model originally distilled by Bela Banathy in the early 1960s. Teaching about communication? Look into Getting and Giving Information. Thinking about project planning? See Problem Solving , Evaluation, and Controlling the Group. Considering what you must change within yourself?  Consider Setting the Example. 

Have you seen anything new under the sun?